An Excerpt From Bob Mulligans Book
Part 1 of 2
“ When the rays of the sun are made to pass through a prism, they get dispersed and become separate owing to refraction. If each of these rays had consciousness, it would consider itself as being separate from the other rays, forgetting entirely that at source and on the other side of the prism it had no separate existence...”- Meher Baba Discourses Vol. I page 37
During my first year of practice as an astrologer while I was living in Chicago, I had a most unusual experience. My phone rang at 3 am. A client at the other end of the line had just awakened suddenly in the middle of a dream. She decided that since I was her astrologer, of course I would want to know about her dream. Immediately. This wasn’ t an emergency mind you. She just thought I would find the information useful. Unbelievable. Because she felt my deep genuine concern for her in our session, it never occurred to her calling me was crossing a boundary. I listened to her dream but asked her not to call again in the middle of the night. I needed to find out about boundaries, and establish some with my clients, so I could provide a working environment for them to safely and effectively get what they needed, while at the same time maintaining some separation between my professional and personal lives. As powerful as astrology is,
its benefits as a tool of human development are lost unless we can adhere to some basic defining behaviors.
‘ Boundaries’ is a term describing the duality necessary for illusion to exist. If we deny the benefit of recognizing that life is characterized by facing boundaries and using them for our advantage, then we are denying the basic structure of creation. In its most simple and basic sense, life’ s primary boundary is the self; the I, me, my, and mine of the ego. Without this“ I” we lack the ability to distinguish ourselves from others. Without this there can be no sense of the individuality and uniqueness necessary for meaningful communication. All relationships by definition assume some primary sense of self. The greater our sense of self, the more we can communicate and share with others. Paradoxically, self is necessary for communication with others, which in turn, leads to a greater feeling of oneness with others. It is during moments of union when the boundaries of self are transcended.
Astrologers usually think of this paradox of unity and diversity of self as the interplay of Neptune( as the symbol of infinite oneness of reality) and Saturn( as the symbol of all finite and defining limitations). Because astrology can be a spiritual path for the astrologer, it is necessary to understand the inverse ratio of fear( Saturn) and faith( Neptune). As the fear side of Saturn strengthens, the faith side of Neptune weakens. As faith goes up, fear goes down. Boundaries are a pure Saturn principle. Boundaries are the principle of differentness. Acknowledging, then working within our differences allows the astrologer / client relationship to become a positive growth factor in each other’ s lives. When discipline and patience( Saturn) are used correctly, the astrologer climbs a ladder of empathetic bonding( Neptune) with the client to achieve union or direct knowledge of the real self.
When we think of boundaries we usually conjure up a picture of what we can’ t do. Some form of limitation comes to mind. We think that a constructive use of boundaries is to accept them, then to look and see what can be done within them in order to have a fulfilling life. Physical mortality is a limit or boundary, what we would call a natural boundary, like the land mass of a continent. However, some boundaries are self created, like deciding how long a session should last. These limits are created out of what we feel we should do.
Boundaries that we as astrologers create are limits and measurements our understanding imposes on our behavior, thereby strengthening our role in our clients’ lives.( e. g. Limiting access [ CONTINUED ON PAGE 9 ]
O P A ❥ The O rganization for Professional Astrology 8 T H E C A R E E R A S T R O L O G E R S P R I N G 2 0 1 3